Geneva: President of the National Council for Human Rights (CNDH), Amina Bouayach, announced on Thursday in Geneva a series of pledges to support the implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. These pledges were made during the plenary session of the 1st Congress on Enforced Disappearances, held on January 15-16.
According to Agence Marocaine De Presse, the pledges include organizing multidimensional advocacy to implement the observations of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances of October 2024. The CNDH also aims to advocate for the recognition of the Committee’s competence to receive and examine individual communications. Additionally, the Council is focused on identifying a dozen graves of former victims of enforced disappearance through DNA testing, collaborating with families and the laboratory of the Directorate General of National Security.
The CNDH is committed to promoting the penalization of enforced disappearance, as outlined in the Moroccan constitution, and to harmonizing the draft penal code with the Convention. To preserve memory, the Council plans to digitize the archives of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission’s works and transfer them to the Moroccan archives. It will also provide researchers access to its documentation, protect victims’ cemeteries, and rehabilitate former irregular detention centers in consultation with NGOs.
These pledges complement two other commitments announced earlier by the Interministerial Delegation for Human Rights (DIDH) on behalf of Morocco. The President of the CNDH, Amina Bouayach, called on participants to achieve universal ratification of the Convention on Enforced Disappearances and to use it as a platform for promoting universal “common ground” against disappearance and torture.
The congress, organized by the Committee and Working Group on Enforced Disappearances and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in collaboration with the Convention against Enforced Disappearances (CEDI) initiative, gathered participants from over 120 countries. The event aimed to strengthen global efforts to combat enforced disappearances by bringing together key players and promoting collective action.